Refinancing pressure is mounting at China’s industrial firms following unprecedented pandemic-induced shocks to the sector and a dearth of bond issuance in the past three months, Bloomberg News reported. Offshore bond sales from high-yield energy and other industrial companies hit a two-year low in the first half of 2020, with no sales from April to June, according to Bloomberg-compiled data. It couldn’t have come at a worse time for them as $3.1 billion of bonds, or more than a quarter of their debt, need to be repaid or refinanced over the next 12 months, the data show.

Next year is going to be a "watershed year" for business failures an insolvency expert is predicting, unless companies can come up with a plan now to get out of debt and survive, the New Zealand Herald reported. John Fisk, national leader of restructuring for PwC and chair of the Restructuring Insolvency and Turnaround Association New Zealand, said that insolvency applications had come down significantly under lockdown but massive amounts of government subsidies meant many businesses weren't addressing the underlying issues related to debt.

Fashion brands and retailers re-opening around the world to patchy demand, and carrying unsold stock from spring have cut fall orders by as much as two-thirds in moves spelling more pain for Asian suppliers, Reuters reported. With shoppers still wary of catching the coronavirus at stores, retailers are leaving buying decisions to the last minute and planning on selling all-season basics such as men’s chinos and t-shirts leftover from spring through into fall. “We don’t think orders for clothing will pick up anytime soon.

An investigation into the accounting misdeeds at Luckin Coffee Inc. has concluded that the company’s chairman knew—or should have known—about the fabricated transactions that inflated the Chinese coffee chain’s sales last year, the Wall Street Journal reported. A report detailing the internal probe also said that Charles Lu, Luckin’s co-founder and chairman, didn’t fully cooperate with the investigation. The monthslong probe was conducted by a special committee of Luckin’s board with the assistance of law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

Indian conglomerate Bharti Enterprises is backing a bid for collapsed SoftBank-backed satellite operator OneWeb, two sources said, in a consortium that is supported by the British government, Reuters reported. OneWeb filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy at the end of March after its biggest investor SoftBank Group Corp pulled funding, with an auction for the startup due to start on Thursday. London-based investment firm Unbound is run by the son of Indian telecoms tycoon Sunil Bharti Mittal, whose interests include telecoms and real estate.

Japan’s industrial output fell for a fourth straight month in May to the lowest level since the global financial crisis and the jobless rate hit a three-year high, underscoring the broad economic pain caused by the coronavirus, Reuters reported. The world’s third-largest economy is bracing for its worst postwar recession, hurt by coronavirus lockdown measures at home and overseas that have upended supply chains, kept businesses shut and depressed consumer spending.

Japanese auto supplier Sanden Holdings on Tuesday said it had filed for debt restructuring with its creditors as falling sales due to the coronavirus pandemic had made it difficult for the company to pursue its restructuring plans, Reuters reported. In a filing to the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the maker of vehicle air conditioning components and compressors said it would enter a so-called alternative dispute resolution, which allows financially stressed companies to reassess and restructure debt.

Tetsuya Kan, head of a major regional bank in Osaka, said it will take two more years for the western Japan prefecture to recover from the damage caused by COVID-19, which has crushed the city’s once thriving tourism and retail sectors, Reuters reported. The vast number of Asian tourists who had flocked to Osaka’s shopping arcades disappeared after Japan banned entry for most overseas visitors, hitting hotels, restaurants and drug stores.

The restructuring of China’s Peking University Founder Group Corp (PUFG) highlights the limitation of keepwell deeds in protecting investors, ratings agency Moody’s said on Monday, casting a cloud over a structure used in almost $100 billion worth of Chinese dollar bonds, Reuters reported. Keepwell deeds are used by some Chinese companies to facilitate offshore bond sales by their subsidiaries. State-owned Peking Founder in February confirmed its failure to repay an onshore bond had led to a cross-default on $3 billion of offshore bonds.

Seafolly Pty Ltd, an Australian swimsuit maker part-owned by French fashion giant LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, appointed administrators on Monday citing a sales downturn from the coronavirus, the latest casualty of the health crisis in the country’s retail sector, Reuters reported. “Seafolly made the appointment because of the crippling financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Scott Langdon and Rahul Goyal, of KordaMentha Restructuring, in a statement.